PENDLETON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) – The traveling Kentucky Vietnam Wall is on tour of all 120 counties in the bluegrass.
The goal is to make sure those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam are never forgotten.
On Saturday the wall was in Pendleton County.1,106 names of those killed in action, held as prisoners of war, and those still missing in action line the wall.
“A lot of the family members don’t have the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. to see the wall. They don’t have the money to drive up there or fly, or they’re getting older,” said Vietnam Veteran Jack Mattingly.Mattingly travels around with the wall, and calls it therapy for his own PTSD.
The traveling Kentucky Vietnam Wall is in Falmouth today. It names more than 1,100 Kentuckian heroes who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. @LEX18News pic.twitter.com/YJ9BPi2Dww
— Alexa Helwig (@AlexaHelwig) June 29, 2019
Several other Vietnam veterans were at the ceremony like David Priest.
To be honored and to remember the names on the wall in his hometown, he says, is heartwarming.
“To me, it was an honor to serve. I would have stayed 20 years if they would have let me,” said Priest.
Many admired the wall and some even found a familiar name, outlining it and taking it home as a memento.
To learn more about the wall: click here.
